400th Anniversary Conference
15th and 16th April 2011
A Celebration of the Life and Times of the 17th century laird of Cromarty, civil war soldier, writer and translator of Rabelais.

A two-day conference is scarcely long enough to cover all aspects of the extraordinary career of Sir Thomas Urquhart. An Episcopalian Laird in a Presbyterian community in continual dispute with the local clergy; a Royalist soldier whose military exploits began at the Trot of Turriff and ended at the Battle of Worcester; the would-be inventor of a Universal Language; a writer of unsurpassed verbosity who traced his ancestry back to Adam and Eve; Urquhart was also the finest ever translator of the works of Rabelais.

Cromarty Arts Trust, in partnership with colleagues at the prospective University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI), will celebrate the 400th anniversary of the birth of Sir Thomas Urquhart of Cromarty with an academic conference in April next year.

We aim to cover all aspects of Sir Thomasâ€™ extraordinary life - his tempestuous relationship with the local clergy and sundry creditors; the travels in France, Italy and Spain; his military involvement with the Royalist cause in the Civil Wars and, of course, the remarkable publications on mathematics, genealogy, a universal language as well as his translation of Rabelaisâ€™ Gargantua and Pantagruel. Speakers will also set his life in a historical and literary context, offering a uniquely full analysis of Urquhartâ€™s life and times.